Gill
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Best Use Of A DuckI've been given an oven-ready duck. All the recipes I can find are either for roasting duck or pan-frying the breasts. Surely it's possible to make duck go further than this? Suggestions?
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gil
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Hmm, dunno.
I once bought a whole duck, roasted it and concluded that the only bits worth having were the breasts and [just about] the back legs.
Got quite a bit of fat off it, you could use that for roast spuds.
I was disappointed
Spose there's always crispy shredded duck with pancakes
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judith
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There isn't a huge amount of meat on a duck.
I normally joint the duck. This gives wings, breasts and legs, plus a very small amount of meat scavenged off the carcass - usually about enough to stir fry for one.
I then boil up the carcass for stock together with the wings. Divide the stock in half, strip the meat from the wings, add vegetables and make soup.
The legs I normally braise - I have a Matthew Fort recipe that I cut out from the Grauniad years ago that is pretty much all I ever use, as it is just fab. Alternatively you could make confit, which is another darned good end for a duck leg.
The breasts you could grill or pan-fry. My favourite thing is to marinate them in sesame oil with star anise, garlic and a bit of chilli, then roast them hard until the breast is nice and crisp. I then slice these thinly to make duck noodle soup with pak choi or other oriental greens (and using the other half of the duck stock), which is possibly my favourite thing to eat in the whole wide world. 
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BethinPA
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Oh, I'm drooling, unashamedly, because of your Asian duck soup! Lovely!
OH used to hunt duck and wouldn't bother with much beyond the breasts. I'd pan-sear the breasts and use everything else for stock, or take it down to a demiglace.
Once the breasts are pan-seared, make a sauce with whatever berries you've got, plus a bit of the stock/demiglace.
Or just do whatever Judith says, because that duck soup sounds heavenly!
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judith
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It is fab, and it is very forgiving in terms of ingredients. As long as you have duck, star anise, some sort of greens, possibly shiitake mushrooms and good stock, you can't really go wrong with it.
Wild duck are a different kettle of fish altogether (if you'll forgive the mixed metaphor). You can be lucky and get a young tender one, but they do get a bit chewy with age, to say the least.
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Bebo
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I take the breasts off and use them in a thai style curry. Take the legs off and confit them (or add them to the curry as well). Roast the carcass and any bits of trimmed off fat to render it out for roast spuds. Make stock with the roast carcass.
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JB
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I generally do a honey glazed roast, preserve the fat for future use (makes great roast tatties), and then use the carcase for game stock.
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Shan
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Legs - confit
Breasts - simply seared and served pink
carcass - render the fat for storage + use the rest for stock or soup
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toggle
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legs: crispy fried duck
breasts, pan fried with some kind of fruity stuff
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wellington womble
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Roast the lot, and scoff it all with hoisin sauce and pancakes. Yum!
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Hammer Man
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| gil wrote: | Hmm, dunno.
I once bought a whole duck, roasted it and concluded that the only bits worth having were the breasts and [just about] the back legs.
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Do ducks have front legs? Haha, sorry couldn't resist!
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arvo
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You're all a secret part of Chez on-going conspiracy to keep ducks aren't you?
All of you! Own up now 
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wellington womble
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Chez, he's figured it out. What shall we do now (I think plan B was 'set Mary Jane on him' wasn't it?)
Hoisin sauce, mmmmmmmmm.
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arvo
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Curses! You may not need to resort to plan b. I may fall for your Hoi-sin sauce wiles.
*grumbles off to find desperate duck fall back position*
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Jamanda
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I found some crispy duck pancakes in the freezer today. Need something doing with them soon (So I'll spend a tenner on a duck to avoid wasting 3p's worth of flour and water  )
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wellington womble
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I'll take any excuse for crispy duck pancakes!
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Jonnyboy
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| Shan wrote: | Legs - confit
Breasts - simply seared and served pink
carcass - render the fat for storage + use the rest for stock or soup |
We have a winner.
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